Seeing The Outside In

Lowell Folk Festival 2011

2011-08-01T19:48:00.002-04:00

Another Lowell Folk Festival is in the books! It seems like I was just blogging about last years festival.

This year was no different than last in where I met a bunch of great new people and fast became friends. In fact, the only difference was how many new friends to hang out with all weekend. It was 4 very different groups of people but all equally so much fun to be around. And this year I decided to just go with the flow and not try to do all the activities and shows .

I only carried my camera around for a few hours on Sunday, but it was incredibly rewarding. As expected, La Excelencia for salsa dancing and Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas for their addicting Southern Louisiana sounds were the crowds favorites (though, I must say, Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper were incredible in the bluegrass genre).

Cutting loose with some zydeco

I managed to capture some great moments with an older woman dancing her heart out to the zydeco music. And I loved how the band strongly encouraged her.

But my all time favorite shot from the weekend (and possibiy my all time favorite 10) came in the closing 30 minutes of this years festival.

At Boarding House, Debo Band, a 9-piece Ethio-groove group, was playing. Sitting on the sidelines with my friends I was enjoying the fact that Lowell once again put on a great show and the weather was perfect. That's when I anticipated something that could unfold if the pieces came together. At the front of the stage was this small girl trying to take pictures of the band. She was very determined, curious and creative. I watched her pixel peep, check for the shutter button, look at the LCD, mess with flash and then eventually point the camera lens at herself! Fortunately, I had my camera in the ready because I thought it would be a fun photo if I captured her taking a picture while the older woman was taking a photo of the band in the background. And then, out of nowhere, another woman stepped into the frame, knelt down, and took a photo of the audience. Everything came together right at the most perfect moment. And I knew I got what I was anticipating and more!

The Littlest Photographer

I love how this photo flows. Young to old. Small to large. Lowest to highest. Perhaps inexperienced to amateur to semi-pro. And all females. Taken by another female.

And now I am left to wonder if anybody was behind me capturing the 4 of us!

Thanks Lowell for another fun filled weekend. And thanks mother nature...you presented your best on Saturday and Sunday!

How I did it

2011-06-12T00:05:00.004-04:00

First let me say that I have been blessed. I have been blessed that I have had so much support from people who have believed in me. Although they have probably grown irritated that I couldn't see what they saw, they never gave up. I just needed time. Time to sort some things out for myself, to get grounded, time to organize where I wanted to go to next in my life and how to take it up a level. Yes, it took about 3 years, but the climb was sure-footed and under my terms. Now I am starting to believe and trust myself but it's so hard not to sound arrogant. If you don't know me, trust me, I have a hard time accepting compliments. I don't feel I am deserving considering that the words are flowing from the mouths of people that are gushing at the seams with artistic talent. I have a hard time calling myself an artist. But I am starting to see where I need to give myself credit. It's starting to grow on me. It's certainly a learning experience.

Last weekend I attended the reception for the Exposed III sponsored by the Arts League of Lowell. And I found out one of my all time favorite photos received the honor of the O'Connor Studios Award for Excellence in Photography - 1st place finisher. Just having the photo hanging in the gallery is truly an honor. To have it recognized as "best of show", if you will, goes beyond all my wildest dreams.

For the last week I have had a bunch of questions as to what was the "winning" shot, where was it taken, how I did it. And from what I understand, there has been debates amongst fellow artists if it was a real picture of water or was it a photo of a water color painting.

So here it is on the left. It is a photo of ripples on a pond reflecting the colors of the deep blue sky, the green trees and the colorful peace flags flying above the pond. It was captured with my Pentax K20D with a Pentax DA* 300mm that I had rented for 3 weeks.

This was the photo I had submitted for consideration in Call for Entries in the Exposed III show.

The original photo looked like this below. But some time ago I cropped it to get the blue and yellow "weave" to really stand out.

The photo was taken at the New England Peace Pagoda in Leverett, Massachusetts. In fact, I took the below photo of the Pagoda with my 18-55mm Pentax kit lens just 5 minutes prior to the close up photo of the water. It was such a peaceful day.

So there was no trickery. Just careful observation as to what was going on around me. One of those "in the moment" moments. If anything, the close up of the water proved just how intense the quality of the "glass" I was using with the DA* 300 (and why it costs $1300 street...that's why I rented it)

The sad part to all this is that I lost the originals of the photos when my hard drive crashed (it literally smoked). I had taken so many beautiful pictures of the monks celebrating the anniversary of the Pagoda. So I just have 3 images left. It breaks my heart, but I am so happy I have at least 3.

The show can be seen at the ALL Arts Gallery at 22 Shattuck Street in Lowell, now thru June 26th. There is also the co-op gallery where members of the ALL Cooperative Gallery show their work and offer it for sale at very reasonable prices. It's a must see!

A loud "wow" in Lowell

2011-06-01T21:48:00.005-04:00

Today has been a tragic day here in MA with countless tornados. The number of tornados is absolutely unprecedented for us. Western MA took a major hit and sadly, several lives were lost.

Thankfully, Lowell was spared of the evening storms. Thank goodness since Lowell High School had their graduation ceremonies at the Tsongas Arena tonight and that could have been an absolute disaster if anything like what happened in Springfield had occurred here. My thoughts and prayers are with all those in various communities affected by the weather.

A couple of weeks ago, I purchased an upgrade to my Pentax K20D. I almost decided to switch systems and move on to Nikon, but I didn't. I remained loyal to the Pentax brand that has carried me happily through the years. So tonight I had the opportunity to see what the K5 can do at night. Needless to say, I am impressed. Noise levels are low even though I was using a kit lens (f/4). All the shots were handheld (which even more impressive for the cameras capabilities).

Here are some of my favorites

EDIT: These photos were taken between 8:37 PM and 9:05 PM

Exposed III

2011-05-30T08:05:00.000-04:00

Another Call for Entries caught my eye about a month ago for the annual photography exhibit at the ALL Arts Gallery in Lowell.

I decided that it would be a good exercise to get my work in front of a very critical eye since the exhibit was going to be juried by Paula Tognarelli, the Executive Director and Curator of the Griffin Museum of Photography.

The maximum pieces that would be considered was 5 and I took full opportunity of that. I did have a hard time choosing which shots though because I have so many favorites. In the end, I decided to loosely go by years, since I have seen my focus change over time, but feel that no matter the year or the focus that my work was good enough to be considered.

3 out of the 5 pieces were accepted and my thought of time span proved to be correct. Photos from 2008, 2010 and 2011 were accepted. In fact, the 2011 shot was just taken during the Doors Open Lowell a couple of weeks ago.

To say the least, I am absolutely thrilled and honored, once again. This is such a great opportunity to get feedback. I am blessed by a circle of friends and family that continue to encourage me at my photography. But I am cognizant that they are my friends and family and encouragement is naturally and lovingly what they do. To get judgement from a stranger (and a professional in photography in most cases) has it's incredible importance and influence also and I do not take it lightly.

One of my favorite professional photographers (and I am not embarrassed to admit that I follow religiously on line) is David duChemin. Although he is a professional, he speaks to his fans, critics and peers like we are right in the room with him, sharing a beer or the like. He is not afraid of discovering his emotion. He's not afraid to share his emotion. I wish I had 1/100th the talent he does.

Recently he blogged about the importance of critics and instincts. It's an interesting read and can be found here. On the last call for entries, I relied on friends to help me pick what I should submit. And they were right. On this call, I relied on my gut. And I was right. It's nice to know I can start trusting my instincts in such a public manner. It's a good lesson in believing in self and not being arrogant about it. For me, at this stage of the game, it's a huge step in the right direction.

I hope you will have the opportunity to visit the gallery. Looking at the list of accepted entries, I am surrounded by a sea of incredible talent in this exhibit and I cannot wait to see my fellow photographers work.

It runs from June 1st to June 26th at the ALL Arts Gallery located at 22 Shattuck Street here in Lowell. The gallery hours are Wed-Sat 11-5 and Sunday 12-4.

Doors Open Lowell 2011

2011-05-17T06:45:00.033-04:00

This past weekend was Doors Open Lowell and my whole weekend got changed in an instant when I realized this. I remember reading about it last year and it was something that I looked forward to this year. Thank goodness I saw the sign on a door at Kearney Square advertising the event while walking home from work Friday night.

I met some wonderful people and had long interesting chats regarding the history of Lowell and how important it is to preserve that history. I also had the opportunity to see some lofts that are for sale and some apartments that will be available to rent in the near future. Lots of neat opportunities I think will be coming my way!

As my friends, family and readers know, I am totally intrigued with Lowell's history and I especially love capturing the history in photos. And between Friday and Saturday, I felt I hit the jackpot, both in absorbing the stories of the history and visually imagining what Lowell was like back in the day. Here are some of the images I captured.

This is a fun photo. It is actually catching the reflection of Massmills that was on a glass case that housed all the Ayer's medicine bottles in Linda and Cliff's beautiful loft in the Fairburn Building (ca. 1892). I stopped counting how many of layers of different reflections there are!

Along with the incredible bottle collection, their loft walls are covered with antique Ayer posters and wall hangings. Looking close at this photo, you can see some of the hangings.

An old light fixture in the stairwell
of St. Jean Baptiste Church (built in 1896)

The gatehouse outside Appleton Mills. I love this shot and the light was perfect to get the colors so rich.

The remains of the turbines under the Jeanne D'Arc Credit Union at 1 Tremont Place

Looking out the beautiful arched window of the 3rd floor of the Old City Hall building (ca. 1829) on Merrimack Street. It now houses the recently renovated offices of Enterprise Bank. The third floor are office spaces to die for!

The organ pipes in the gutted St. Jean Baptiste Church. The altar, statues and pews on the first floor were completely removed, but the pews and the organ were preserved on the second and third floors of this incredibly large church.

The incredible Ayer's medicine bottle collection in Linda and Cliff's home in the Fairburn Building. I could have spent all evening looking at all of the bottles!

Wrought iron ornament at the entrance of the renovated Appleton Mills. Yeah, the "J" caught my eye!

"Looking @ Lowell" followup

2011-04-30T19:42:00.001-04:00

I cannot believe how fast the month of April came in and flew out. But it is almost "in the books".

In that time, I went on vacation to Florida, ran in two 5K road races, celebrated both my parents birthdays, enjoyed Easter with my family, went bowling and shot some pool with my friends and started work on my next "call for artists". Oh and kept my 40 hour a week job with it's 4.5 hour commute per day. I have been extremely busy.

"Caged Light"

But in between all that, I managed to slice some time out to get over to the Whistler House to see my piece "Caged Light" in all her glory. Much to my surprise, I learned that the piece took 2nd place in the judging of all the submitted work in the photograph category (I didn't know there was a competition). I was quite pleased to hear that. And on Friday I learned my piece sold! I am so excited to know that someone will appreciate the work I did on it. I cannot tell you how often people have told me that the "photo draws you in" and that is precisely what I wanted it to do. One of the things I have thought about doing with it is getting it blown up enough to cover a door. I think could add a whole new dimension and feeling to the apartment I live in!

My only disappointment, if you will, was the fact that I couldn't get to the opening reception because I was in Florida on vacation. But other than that, this has truly been a learning experience for me.

Even though the exhibit is over, I encourage all to visit it the Whistler House. There are some exquisite works of art there and I was incredibly fascinated. I particularly love Whistler's pen and ink sketches. I have always had a weakness for ink sketches. I never thought that art museums would fascinate me, but in the last 3 years I have been to no less than 7 art museums. From the Salvador Dali Museum in Tampa to The Mattress Factory in Pittsburgh to the MFA in Boston. All so very, very different and all so very, very moving.

On top of all the wonderful acknowledgement at the Whistler House, they also used my photo as part of the advertisement for the exhibit. I feel so lucky and blessed.

I am thinking of some other approaches on how to get my work out there to the public. I have a couple of months. In the meantime, I will continue to keep an eye out for new photo opportunities. The list is growing...

Whistler House "Looking At Lowell" Exhibit

2011-04-03T09:19:00.000-04:00

Some time at the end of February there was a "Call for Entries" for an exhibit being hosted by the Whistler House Museum of Art. "Looking at Lowell" was the name of the exhibit and of course, that naturally caught my attention.

I have never submitted any of my work except for the NPS Photography Contest last year (which, to my surprise, I had great success). But I decided that I would submit three examples of my work since I have hundreds of photos of Lowell. I have the goal of getting my name "out there" locally and because this is new ground for me, I want to tread lightly. Fortunately, my mother has been selling her artwork for decades at shows across New England, so I could turn to her for advice. I also have a friend of mine who has great experience at showings/exhibits and I know I could ask her for assistance if I needed to. Choosing which photos to submit was so incredibly hard. I based my decision on past reactions to some of my work, my core feeling about the photos and my "fan club" friends opinions.

Well, one of my favorite and more thought provoking photos was accepted! I am truly honored! I won't disclose which one for now because I encourage you to go to the Museum to see all the local artists in the exhibit (and the other events/exhibits). I must confess, I haven't had an opportunity to see it yet, but I will when I return from vacation.

Speaking of Lowell and museums, one of my goals this spring/summer is complete this map. I have only been to 2 of the museums listed, so it looks like I have some interesting weekends planned!

Much Better

2011-01-25T10:12:00.001-05:00

Looks like the city, the drivers and the pedestrians won after Lowell's successful assault on the sidewalk snowbanks Saturday night. Thank you. Now there is enough room for the next kiss from mother nature tomorrow!

More snow = less sidewalk

2011-01-22T12:57:00.005-05:00

Wow, this year is super snowy. And dangerous. I am still walking to and from the train station. Every mile is scary. No sidewalks and extremely slippery. Word on the street is that the city is going to start snow mountain removal off the downtown sidewalks tonight.

But, even though this is my least favorite season, it gives me an opportunity to push myself in the direction I don't want to go in -- which is outside in the cold!

Here are some random shots

Winter's challenge

2011-01-02T09:18:00.001-05:00

Massmills Lampshade

After the snowstorm (Blizzard 2010) I managed to get outside and get some minor shots. My camera was really acting up, unfortunately. Lost 35-50% of my shots. At first I thought it was because of the cold, but I have had it out there in much, much worse conditions (5 degree weather) and never had an issue. So my next thought might be an inadequate battery or than a less than stellar memory card.

Fortunately, I have all winter to try and figure it out.

Winter is such a hard time period for me. The ups and downs are challenging. For instance, the last two days the temps have been 50+ degrees. Because the landscape is usually pretty black and white (and eventually filthy) in the dead of winter, finding things, finding inspiration, is always tough for me. Now it has been compounded by the fact that the one thing that showed potential to photograph, the Merrimack rivers ice flows, have all melted away. I know the cold temperatures will be back, and the river will slow down with its ice cover, but I don't want to wish for it! I would much rather just skip the cold temperatures and find that first flower blooming!

St Annes Church

Lower Locks

Things are a changing

2010-10-26T19:49:00.000-04:00

Wow, just like that, the season is changing! I had all the intentions of capturing the colors, but the weeks are slipping by me with the new work schedule. Weekend time is taken up by chores and family obligations.

But I did manage to get to Boston on Sunday to walk around. It was kind of cold and overcast, but I still enjoyed myself. Here are some seasonal shots. I will upload my others in a later blog post.

Cedar Street

Acorn Street

Louisburg Square

Beautiful Thunderheads

2010-09-13T19:51:00.002-04:00

Couldn't resist catching some photos of the storm north of Lowell tonight. These are a couple of my favorite ones

Maxfield Parish influence

NPS Lowell visit, Part II

2010-09-05T16:42:00.002-04:00

So a week ago, I found myself at the Boott Mills Museum hoping to catch the "Preservation Movement: Then and Now" that Corey Sciuto had mentioned on his blog. I had never been to the museum, even though it was on my list of many things to do.

I was quite fascinated with the looms. And even though NPS had ear protection available, I chose not to wear them because I found the repetition of the banging looms to be soothing and comforting. I spent a great deal of time just listening and tried to imagine what it would be like if all the looms were running. I expect it would have been deafening.

Because I was so intrigued with the museum and it was late in the afternoon, I never managed to get the time to go through the Preservation exhibit. I especially loved the miniature model of one of the mills and had a field day with it photographically.

But I did find the Preservation exhibit today and spent a great deal of time reading through the excellent presentation.

The "Preservation Movement" was born in the New England area from the unsuccessful attempt to spare the John Hancock house in Boston from demolition in 1863.

After going through the exhibit, I am somewhat saddened that Lowell did lose some of its historic buildings. The boarding houses would have been a treasure to keep, I think. But Lowell is moving slowly forward, in a very cautious and wise manner, maintaining the balance of recognizing and honoring the history here, while still leaving the doors of opportunity open. Many of us would like to see the pace picked up, I suppose. Perhaps for our reassurance that we will survive the tough economic times we have been witnessing and personally experiencing. But like life, even though we are staring at difficult times, this too shall pass. And Lowell will come out ahead, no matter what the naysayers are babbling about.

It has to.

One interesting side note:

Approximately 1.5 years ago, I went through great efforts tracing my ancestry. I found quite a few surprises that nobody in my family was aware of. One of which was the famous lineage on my dad's mother's side of the family. Seems as though many of my ancestors were from Massachusetts and Connecticut. One of my "cousins" many times removed is John Hancock.

So I was quite surprised to find out that some of my lineage had a connection to the Lowell/Chelmsford area with Elizabeth Clark (she being born in Chelmsford and the grandmother to John Hancock).

Quite a surprise

2010-09-04T22:10:00.000-04:00

Today, I headed out with friends to the 3 County Fair in Northampton. And with me, I had my latest Apple acquisition, my iPhone 4 that I succumbed to buying yesterday.

I will admit that I am an Apple fangirl. But this phone really is 10x better than my previous phone, the iPhone 2g. The camera on it is a 5 megapixel and I am totally impressed with the results. I feel like I will never miss a good photo opportunity now that I have this phone with me (ha... until the iPhone 5 gets released!). The previous camera on the 2g was not that great and I was at a point that I didn't even bother to take a photo out of sheer frustration and disappointment.

Unfortunately, this blog posting cannot do these photos justice. Trust me though, the images are incredibly crisp full screen in Lightroom. Quite impressive indeed!

Common and different

2010-09-02T22:35:00.000-04:00

Nice morning out. Not much to say about these photos except they are very much touristy shots. In other words: popular and common. Still, I like the colors and playing around with HDR.

Massachusetts Wasteway Gatehouse

Lower Locks

Since I am on vacation, I decided to do something a bit different today. I visited a site where I know I can find old bottles. Bottles and arrowheads are things I have been collecting since I was a child. Bottles are pretty easy to find if you can figure out where people dumped their garbage. Arrowheads are a lot tougher. The last one I found was on Dec 6, 2006 on the south shore. It had been the first one I found in nearly 30 years.

Anyway, here's a pic of some of the "loot" I discovered buried today. The jar on the left is a raspberry jam jar from the "Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company" (A&P today). And I like the small bottle on the right with a side of it flat. Maybe good for storage? It was a good day being different!

Back Central Stroll

2010-09-01T22:55:00.005-04:00

What a gorgeous night!

Strolled up Central Street. I was more in a talkative mood tonight than a picture taking mood. Stopped by a house at the corner of Mill and Lawrence, and kindly asked the older gentleman about the ripe grapes in his driveway. I wanted to know if he planned to make wine from them. He nodded yes and the next thing I knew he cut me down a bunch. Oh my! I felt like I just won the lottery. They were so, so good. I wanted to get his picture with his vintage crop, but he quickly disappeared to the front seat of his car. Sir, thank you for your kindness!

I made my way down Lawrence Street. You just never know what you may see....

And I was intrigued with the Joseph Raynes House. Unfortunately, all I know is that Mr Raynes was a silversmith and the house was built in 1832 and modified in 1910. It has been restored and preserved beautifully and I imagine the Lowell Historic Board was involved.

Since I took a few days off from work, I decided to treat myself to an ice coffee over at Brew'd Awakenings. It was nice to gather with friends and catch up with the happenings in Lowell.

And finally, I decided to take a crack at shooting some HDR night stuff of the canal. I am finding that the built in HDR processor in Photoshop CS5 is not as good as Photomatix Pro. Below is a shot of the canal and processed in Photomatix. I certainly don't quite know what I am doing yet with HDR, but I am having fun learning!

Night Lowell!

A Brutal Lack of Love

2010-08-29T21:18:00.003-04:00

A fellow Lowellian blogger, Corey Sciuto, mentioned in one of his posts, that I had left a comment on his blog about the lack of love that I have towards the JFK Civic Center.

Corey strikes me as being extremely well versed and seems to have his finger on the pulse of Lowell (and the world in general). So I felt that the appropriate response to him would be to head over to the plaza tonight to see if I could find some love and capture it on digital film.

Epic. Fail.

It. Just. Isn't. Happening.

I did try

And I tried again

And if I didn't have to get the building involved, I did better

The basic topic of his original post was in response to the exhibit at Boott Mills about Lowell and the Preservation Movement. Corey had mentioned that the JFK Civic Center deserved to be preserved because it is basically part of Lowell's history. My knee-jerk reaction was no, it needs to go (I have no love for the Freudenberg Building either).

The JFK Civic Center is of Brutalist architecture and it is just not for me. I see it has mono linguistic, no color commentary, cold pillars of concrete taking up space, not complimenting the space it fills.

Simply put, I love color. I love intricate details. I love guessing the history of an old building. I love seeing the stairways worn, the shingles covered with layers of paint, the roof a little crooked, listening to the walls that talk, tugging on the door that seems a little warped. It's all about character. I love knowing that an old building was well cared for, so it can continue to tell it's story for another 100 years.

Architecture of course is an art form. I am not a fan of Andy Warhol's artwork. At all. But I love Maxfield Parish and his work. I don't care for Thomas Kincaid's art but I find Dali's work beautiful, clever and amazing. Does it mean I want to see the work I dislike destroyed? No, of course not. So my knee-jerk reaction of getting rid of the JFK Civic Center was just that: knee-jerk. As much as I am recording digitally all of Lowell's great examples of architecture, I need to keep trying to find the love for stuff that I don't like. It is a great challenge!

I do understand what Corey is saying. That someday perhaps we will honor this modern architecture. That as a society we will eventually see their worth. And to that I say there is hope for people like myself. The following is a video that finds the beauty in architecture, from the viewpoint of a photographer. It is full of Brutalist architecture and I will confess, I get misty eyed every time I watch the video.

If there is any technical difficulties with the YouTube video, here's a direct link to Alex Roman's website

Edit: I actually prefer the video on his site over the YouTube video because the original soundtrack is so much more appropriate than the YouTube soundtrack. Not sure why they are different.

I also suggest that after you watch the video, do some reading on the making of it. You will be amazed and there is a very local connection involved with it.

Long live Lowell 5 and the Civic Center!

Now can someone pass me some enthusiasm?!

Eclectricity

2010-08-29T11:44:00.002-04:00

Another full morning of wanderings and photos. Lots of HDR stuff, though I think something is up with my camera. I have never seen so many images over saturated like I have over the last two days. Kind of disappointing. But perhaps it's a slight hint that I should be entertaining the thought of moving off the Pentax system altogether. As much as I don't like following what everyone else is doing or buying, I think a Canon or Nikon may be in order. Lenses are easier to find and/or rent (though not necessarily cheaper) and there are more accessories.

I just feel I would betray the Pentax system if I left now...

Anyway, here is some fun stuff

Glass windows at Salvation Army

MCC Reflections

Yester-year

7 Levels

Second trip out

2010-08-28T13:33:00.001-04:00

I made a second trip out about 3 or 4 hours after this morning's jaunt. I wanted to head back to the Hamilton Mill. There was more to be captured!

The photo on the left is particularly interesting. There are actually 3 different windows, all at different distances. This is of a window directly in front of me. In its bottom clear pane, the window that can be seen is actually the window across the old factory floor. The reflection of the window in the top pane is a window that is actually about 50 feet behind me. It's kind of cool.

The other photos that follow are just ones that I like.

Looking up

2010-08-28T09:33:00.005-04:00

Another early morning. I really wonder if I should get my head checked. Up at 5:00 AM on a Saturday just seems so wrong.

I wandered around a bit. I was out before the sunrise, with only half a cup of coffee in me, so I wasn't feeling too inspired. As for the two photos on the left and right, I noticed these two guardians on the Fairburn Building earlier this week and remembered to capture their images. Unlike me, they have been burning the midnight oil for ages!

Doors Open Lowell has some really interesting information on original owner of this building, George Runels. He certainly had many interests and adventures. Here's some information on the building that was built in 1892.

The Doors Open Lowell is an excellent opportunity to see these historic buildings on the inside. I wish I had known about it over the last two years! I will patiently wait for next year's event that looks like it will occur in May 2011. In the mean time, I will just keep photographing from the outside.

One of the things I started doing last year was collecting old post cards of Lowell. I really have a fascination with the buildings and Lowell's history. There's something special about the bricks, the large plates of glass in the windows and just the basic architecture of the older buildings. The buildings feel more handmade than what they are today. More personal detail went into them. Subtle differences, an unevenness, and almost an ethnicity is present, giving them their own personality and voice. The newer buildings of today are too laser precise. Too perfect. Almost like they were formed in a mold and delivered to a street corner near you.

The following image is an example of what makes the older buildings special to me. It's not perfect. The bricks used to denote the architect and year are clearly cut, but not precise. So the angles on the white/gray bricks are different. I find the number "8" particularly fun. It's such a hodge-podge of cuts... but it works, and has for almost 120 years!

Revisiting

2010-08-27T22:04:00.008-04:00

Ah, Friday! I thought you would never get here!

On Friday nights I usually treat myself to a dinner and/or a tall ice coffee. Tonight I headed over to Life Alive for some wholesome goodness.

Of course, I have my camera in tow. And once again the stairs at Mass Mills grabs my attention. I am trying to capture something about these stairs though I am really not sure what. And even though I don't know what, I think I am getting closer. Yeah, it makes no sense, but here's tonight's keeper. I like how I was angled tonight and the light seemed a bit different. I may seem closer to what I am looking for because perhaps one's eye has so many different places it can start (and tonights lighting really made that apparent), it follows the same direction of twists and eventually stops at the same spot (in the center).

The stairs at Mass Mills

Sovereign Bank Wall 2009

I visited an old wall tonight. The image on the left is a photo I took in July 2009. In March of this year it was selected as the First Place Winner in the Lowell Photography Contest sponsored by the National Park Service. I was quite honored.

The image on the right is what I captured tonight. I was using a different lens tonight, not my best one, (my best one is being borrowed by a friend). But even by not looking at the wall through the view finder, I did notice it looked different. Everything looked softer, the oranges were not as intense. The shadow of the building not as crisp. In fact, it had the double edge, which I couldn't figure out what was causing that. Even so, I couldn't resist.

I do think the lens made a big difference. I may head over tomorrow night and experiment with several manual lenses I have.

An afternoon behind the lens

2010-08-21T22:03:00.003-04:00

Yay! It's open!

The Asian Water Festival was packed!

Unfortunately, I didn't get too many pictures. But I did get a few on my walk to Heritage State Park.

Thrilled to see that the Northern Canal Waterway was open. What a treat to move between the canal and the river instead of the asphalt and sidewalks.

A beautiful evening led to a beautiful morning

2010-08-21T08:53:00.009-04:00

For today, I am anticipating a full day of photography. It was a beautiful start and I was thrilled that I found something new to photograph.

Later today, I am gonna catch the action on the river at the Southeast Asian Water Festival. Should be festive and colorful!

I love this one. I mean, really, really love!

Couldn't resist!

What fun colors and shapes

Blue sky, bricks and windows. Awesome!

Love the lines

Another beautiful night

2010-08-20T21:21:00.005-04:00

I must say, we have had a beautiful summer here in New England. Yeah, I know we could use the rain, but for once, mother nature hasn't messed with us too bad!

I have my window open in my office getting ready to go down memory lane with the B-52s who are playing across the street at Boarding House Park.

As for miscellaneous shots for tonight, here are some that I took.

This image is an HDR that I took over at the Swamp Locks. The orange reflection on the water is coming off the Freudenburg building. Even though it provided nice color for my photo, I wish they would get rid of the Freudenburg. It is so out of place, particularly amongst that group of mills.

Considering I didn't have a tripod with me, which you really do need to get decent water veil affects, I am pleased with the results. When I do HDR, I normally only take 3 shots, one underexposed by half a stop, the second at normal exposure and the last overexposed by half a stop. For the actual processing of the image, I use Photomatix Pro. I find that some of the HDR images found around the internet can be rather garish. I try to stay away from that look. On the other hand, some folks may find my image too saturated (which I will admit, is!). But we all have our different tastes. I find that I love rich color especially when the colors complement each other.

I laugh every time I look at this

The light was nice tonight
with the bricks glowing
a warm orange.

Found a interesting stack of
wood over at the Appleton
Mills construction site.

Fun with shapes

G'Night, Lowell!

Parking Lot Attendants: 3 Jan: 0

2010-08-19T21:10:00.001-04:00

I am proud. I got kicked off my 3rd parking lot roof. My weapon? My camera. My crime? Capturing a city's character from a different vantage point. Oh well. I consider it Lowell's loss more than mine.

Played around with bracketing and HDR tonight. Always fun not knowing what kind of results you are going to wind up with. Here are a couple shots of Boott Mills.

Also played around with some windows reflecting in the canal.

Me (version 4.7)

2010-08-17T08:35:00.005-04:00

Last night I decided it was time for a new self portrait. The last time I did this, in March, I had a slight melt down over the horror of my winter weight gain. I couldn't even look at the photos without utter disgust (and truthfully, some tears).

Times are different now. I managed to drop some weight and I am much easier on myself. The last good self portrait photo that I took was about this time last year. I liked the photo, a lot, but my hair is longer and curlier now, so it's time to update!

Anyway, this is truly a challenge when there is only you to take the photo! Fortunately, armed with my trusty Pentax K20D, its remote control, the tripod and a good evening light, I came away with quite a few good ones with this one posted being my fave. I have some other ideas that I would like to try and will get to them as time goes on.

For now, I am quite happy with the updated "me".

Ruins

2010-08-15T21:53:00.009-04:00

Tonight, before making my weekly trek to Hannafords, I decided to stop by an old church that I read about somewhere online. Camera in hand, I captured images of what is left of it. The Church of the Sacred Heart, in South Lowell, was completed in 1896 from as near as I could tell. I have searched the internet, but unfortunately, there isn't much information about this particular church. Most of the attention and hoopla seems to go to the Immaculate Conception Church on Merrimack Street (which I will admit, it's stained glass is beautiful).

When I arrived I saw that the neighborhood kids had torn down the yellow caution tape. Other kids were climbing in the nearby trees. Not exactly the safest place for them to be playing, but they quickly dispersed when I showed up.

Glass crackled under my feet and rocks seemed to find my toes for me to stub them on. I waited for a few rats to come racing out of the foundation. But I think the varmit population was being dealt with quite well by a red tail hawk perched up on one of the gold plated crosses. I managed to sneak a peak into the basement of the large vacant church. Not much to see, but I was surprised that the neighborhood is respecting it. By that I mean, the windows haven't been totally ripped out and the copper gutters haven't been stolen and sold for scrap. Some of the stained glass still exists, but I think that is only a matter of time before a rock sails through them. Knowing me, I will return for another look see. I am not quite done with this building. The sun setting is what concluded the photo session for me tonight.

Right place, right time

2010-08-14T21:28:00.002-04:00

A couple posts back, I talked about the reason why I didn't do as much nature photography anymore and that was because most of the time I thought it comprised of "lucky" shots.

Well....

When I happened to look out my studio/den/office window, this was waiting for me.

Thanks, mother nature. You have no idea how much I needed this!

Intentions

2010-08-14T10:16:00.005-04:00

I don't know what happened in Lowell last night, but the city was rocking.

I had gone to bed early for a Friday night with the intention of getting up for the morning sunrise. All I know is that at midnight I was looking out my window trying to figure out where all the noise was coming from. I did manage to get back to sleep, but I was a little delayed with the wake up call. Even so, I did get out into the morning light at a decent time. I decided to head in a whole new direction (Back Central) instead of the downtown area.

The Registry of Deeds is an interesting brick building (the above and below photos). The back and side of it reminded me of a gingerbread house. I do hope there is a deep commitment to keeping these buildings. I really do think it adds to Lowell's multi-faceted personality and documents its timeline in such an interesting fashion.

Below is a photo of the morning light looking down Walnut Street

Out and about

2010-08-12T21:46:00.005-04:00

Just wandered around Lowell tonight. Came upon an incident where a kid was running around shooting a gun. Yeah, I wasn't in the greatest parts of town tonight, but sometimes that's all the adventure. Police finally showed up and caught the guy.

Here are just some simple shots. When you do photowalks, which is all I seem to do, your subject matter is all over the place. Tonight, I took photos of squirrel gymnastics, library glass reflections, tricycles in the canal, amongst other things. I am doing a personal project right now and I wound up with two "keepers" so I am happy about that. I will probably go out tonight if the the clouds and light are right to keep working on this project.

A helping hand or a hand out?

An eye on the canal

No Fun

Foggy days?

2010-08-11T05:19:00.004-04:00

Here's a before and after shot from Saturday. For some strange reason, I just really like the B&W version that I did of the church steeple. I keep coming back to it and I don't know why.

It was rather simplistic. The day way beautifully bright which is not always a good thing for photography. The light can be too harsh. But after I got done with a few shots of the Holy Trinity church, I did a 180 and there was St Patricks Church. I was using a polarizer to bring out the deep blues of the sky, but apart from that, what you see on the left is what my camera captured. It wasn't until I uploaded the image and started playing around with it in Lightroom that I saw some potential.

What is cool is how you can set the mood of a photo just in the finishing process. Looking at the B&W, you wouldn't know it was so bright and cheerful out. The finished B&W reminds me of a foggy, damp day somewhere in England. But all it took was a crop of the photo, a conversion using a B&W preset and add just a tad bit of grain.

The great thing about digital photography is that you really can play with no constraints. It's all your interpretation. It's all your imagination. Some people are real sticklers for no photo manipulation. And I do have my boundaries. If there is heavy manipulation, like removing or adding elements in a photo, merging numerous photos, etc, then I am really upfront about it. But it's something that I very rarely do (besides removing dust particles).

The other great thing is the planned and the unplanned. You might have an idea for a particular image and the story you would like to convey to the observer. Then you enter the playground and all bets are off. In the end, the process takes many twists and turns and you wind up with a drama instead of a love story!

It's my ultimate escape...

Before and after

2010-08-09T21:05:00.003-04:00

I have had a few people comment on my Lowell Jan header image and how I "made" it. There really wasn't any "making" to it (like Photoshopping 2 images together, that sort of thing). I have included the original picture below

Basically, all I had to do was get a tight crop on it to eliminate the "i", the clouds and the bricks. Then I used a cool colorization preset on the image. I did all of this in my photo processing software and viola!

I primarily use Adobe Lightroom 3 for all my imaging needs. I do own Photoshop CS5, but I find it cumbersome and quite frankly, overwhelming to use. Lightroom does everything I need from cropping, upsizing, converting to black and white, cataloging, and fixing red-eye, etc.

When I originally took this photo, I just thought it was neat because I have had a few nicknames in the past and "Jani" was one of them. But once I got home and looked at it, I thought it was perfect for my photoblog that was yet to be started. "Seeing The Outside In" was always going to be the name of the blog because it meant something to me philosophically as an artist. This image just enhanced the title and took a bit of the seriousness out of it. Which is fine with me. Who says you can't have fun with your passions?!

Todays adventure

2010-08-08T19:03:00.090-04:00

I decided to venture over to the Lowell Cemetery this morning for a peaceful walk with my camera. I always manage to find some gems there and today I found some more. What I learned about the cemetery is that it is one of the oldest garden cemeteries in the nation (founded in 1841). I also learned that they give free tours, one of which will be held next Saturday. I will probably go because, well, I am curious!

Here are a couple of some unusual rooflines. The one on the left is the roof on a crypt. The crypyt itself is the color of milk chocolate which is unusual since most of the monuments and crypts are white and gray. This particular crypt is the final resting place for a doctor. Unfortunately, I don't remember the name. I need to bring my small notebook next time to write down important notes!

The photo to the right is the roof on a beautiful small chapel. The roof is slate with copper flashing and runoffs. I absolutely love the look of weathered copper roofs and this one is no different. There are quite a few houses with slate roofs here in Lowell.

I started out as a nature photographer but as time moved on, I got more and more interested in lines and shadows. I still enjoy nature photography, but I feel the great shots are more like lucky shots. Right place at the right time type of shots.

Kind of like the shot to the left. I just happened to look up and there he was, keeping an eye on me. On close inspection of the photo, these guys aren't pretty at all. But I suppose living in the side of a hill isn't the cleanest.

There are unusual monuments. I really don't understand the need for very large monuments. Some of the most interesting resting places and the ones I contemplate the most are the unique ones. There is one lane that has at least 3 sites with carved large books. One definitely can assume that the deceased probably loved reading and learning. This photo below tells some sort of story!

There are quite a few pearls of wisdom that can be found sprinkled throughout the gardens. Like:

Some pearls I couldn't take a photo of. One that I found sad was the quote "Quitting is never the solution." I hope the deceased died of natural causes.

After all is said and done, I think I just want to be cremated. Why go through all this trouble?

Easily amused

2010-08-08T07:43:00.003-04:00

I have been told in the past that I see differently. And most of the time, I know I do. Most of the time I have a good sense of humor. And sometimes, well, my humor is just different. Some people get it, some people don't. This post is kind one of those "you get my humor in how I sometimes see things or you don't".

This triptych consists of photos that I took in the last two days. The photo on the left is a plastic scare tactic owl wired above a door at the Appleton Mills. The unique architure of the middle photo can be found on the Greek Orthodox Church (along with it's signature 3 gold domes). But it wasn't until I took the last pic of the famous Owl Diner that I realized that I could have a little fun with them.

Yes, I am easily amused but I am also fascinated with the history of Lowell. So I would like to mention the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church was built in 1906 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. The church was the first built for a Greek Orthodox congregation in the United States.

The Owl Diner is also listed in the National Register of Historic Places (under Monarch Diner). A short history and a recent review of the diner can be found here.

And here is an interesting Google timeline of the Appleton Mills history.

It's all good...

Well, I did it

2010-08-07T22:50:00.000-04:00

Here I am. I said that I would start a new blog for my photography. And I am glad that I finally have a playground for my work.

It has been a process getting back to this point. The point where my mind is active in exploration of color, shadows, lines and shape. To the point where I see something, and my mind automatically bends it, turns it around, crops it or puts it on a different plane. Sometimes my mind is strong, other times, it just can't be bothered. I let the photographic urge come and go on its own free will. I never worry. I know it will always return.

The stairs in the renovated mill that I live in

I live in the city of Lowell, MA and I love living here. Besides the incredible ethnic diversity, there is a growing artist community, so the galleries are numerous. But what I love the most is photographing this city. Lowell basically is the cornerstone to our nation's industrial revolution. Many of the cotton mills built in the mid 1800's are still standing to this day. In fact, I have the privilege of living in a renovated mill that was originally built in 1839.

Some of the mills are fraying at the seams and are dangerous (which make them photographically tempting and delicious). Others have been well tended to and serve as office space and housing. But each has its own signature, its own mood, its own story and I enjoy so much capturing the images.

But it's not just the mills. The mills were powered by the Merrimack and Concord Rivers, so there is ample opportunity to record the fierceness of the rivers during the spring runoff. My first bald eagle I saw in the wild was here in Lowell flying over the Merrimack. And the second time I had ever seen a beaver was smack dab downtown in one of the canals! Go figure.

When I do head out with my camera, it can last 3 hours (like today) or as much as 15 hours. There is so much to see that I never worry about running out of material or tiring of it.

For the record, the "Lowell Jan" header image and the stairway image included in this post are shots I took today in my happy wanderings. There are many, many more on my website Sentosa Wind, especially under the "Lowell" and "Latest Work" pages. Check it out!